Sleepless Nights
by SunshineGirl09
Summary: Bothered by Akane's sudden change in behavior one morning, Ranma needs to put their bickering aside in order to get the bottom of it, and maybe offer a solution of his own...
1. part I

_Sleepless Nights_

 _Part One_

Ranma groggily rises from his slumber as an autumn breeze flutters into the room that he and his father share. At night, Genma typically opens the window, and by morning the chilled air cools the room to a nearly unbearable temperature.

"Oy, Pop!" Ranma growls, throwing a soft object in the direction of his father. "Do you hafta sleep as a panda every night? Not _all_ of us have a nice, furry coat!"

The panda dozing near the window grunts at the pillow and turns over with his back facing Ranma. This irritates Ranma, causing him to stand up and stalk to the other side of the room to slam the window shut. His father's eyes snap open, and he rises to a battle stance.

This isn't an uncommon morning ritual for the two, to begin the day with an unnecessary fight. It's not long before Ranma warms up and forgets that he was so cold earlier.

Eventually, they cease throwing punches and kicks at each other when the two simultaneously realize that they're hungry and breakfast awaits downstairs. Genma leaves first, heading to the direction of hot water. Ranma throws on his clothes and slips out the door.

He reaches the stairs when something hits him from behind, followed by a soft gasp.

"Yo," he turns around grumpily and faces Akane. "Watch where you're going?"

Suddenly, he realizes her desolate expression. The bags underneath her eyes immediately draw his gaze. Her hair rests in awkward tufts, completely disheveled, and she doesn't even raise her eyes to meet his.

Instantly, Ranma feels guilty. Not just because he didn't spare her his sour mood from earlier, but also because he gave her a lot of grief the night before about an encounter she had with Kuno. After school, Kuno had taken her off guard, and Ranma discovered the two in a precarious situation. Instead of acting with understanding and sympathy, he lashed out, insisting she had allowed Kuno to grab her. The spar ended with Akane slamming her door on him, and Ranma yelling one more snide remark at the door before turning to go to bed.

Now, he winces as she wordlessly brushes past him and descends downstairs. Ranma feels unmistakable guilt, but his awkwardness completely prevents him from being able to express his feelings. Instead, he follows her downstairs and takes his usual seat at the table for breakfast, without mentioning anything to her.

All throughout breakfast, Ranma battles his irritation towards her silence with his guilt about their previous spat. While the rest of the Tendo family chats happily, Akane makes no effort to chime in. She fixes her groggy gaze towards her bowl of rice, and it looks as if she's going to fall straight in.

"Ne, Akane," Nabiki calls out. "You okay? You look like you're ready to pass out at the table?"

Akane finally jolts up at the sound of her sister addressing her.

"Yes!" She says, with almost too much enthusiasm. "Of course I am fine."

The rest of her family starts to pick apart at her health with 'oh you should sleep more', 'you're training too hard', don't study so much'….Akane immediately tunes it out. She's so tired, her body shudders with the effort it takes to think of a response.

Ranma doesn't join everyone else in their comments, but instead notes Akane's increasingly pained appearance. He's observant, and he knows her well. It doesn't take long for him to conclude she hasn't slept at all.

Suddenly Akane rises and thanks Kasumi for breakfast. She then swiftly she dips out to retrieve her bookbag. Thanks to Ranma's quickness on his feet, he catches her as she departs out the door with his own schoolbag.

"You tryna ditch me?" He accuses her, immediately regretting speaking with a harsh tone towards her. _Why do I always do that?_

"No," Akane replies, not looking him in the eye and walking sluggishly.

Ranma realizes he would've had no problem catching up to her before. She barely manages a normal walking pace the entire way to school. It pains him, but he forces himself to walk slowly and stay with her. They don't speak at all. He's thankful she doesn't point out the fact he leisurely walks beside her rather than trotting along the fence. For some reason, he doesn't think it's a good idea to leave her alone in this state.

* * *

Akane rests her head in her hands during class, something she rarely does because it signals lack of respect for the instructor. She can't help it. All throughout class, she recounts the nightmare that ripped her from her slumber at 2 am the night before. It chills her bones, and it's enough to fight her fatigue from not sleeping the rest of the night.

She realizes that Ranma is staring at her, and she straightens her posture. _Why do I care if_ he _notices?_ She has mixed feelings about Ranma. On one hand, he's clearly worried about her since he's trying so hard not act as callously. However, their bitter fight from yesterday still echoes in the back of Akane's mind, not to mention the fact that he played a role in her night terror.

Nonetheless, he keeps his distance all day. Akane huffs to herself. She thinks he still has sour thoughts about her encounter with Kuno, and if that was enough to fool him into thinking she liked Kuno, it's hopeless. It twists her heart to think that Ranma can be so stupid and (jealous?), but if he wants to assume ridiculous things, Akane decides she needs to distance herself and-

"Seriously-"

A grab of her wrist pulls her out of her thoughts.

"What's wrong, Akane?" Ranma inquires, trying to keep his tone more formal and less demanding.

Her silence on their walk home torments him into confronting her.

Akane turns around and looks at Ranma, who stands stiffly behind her, still holding onto her wrist firmly. The glow of the sunset illuminates their silhouettes off the river. He's staring into her eyes so earnestly; he realizes maybe it's _too_ earnest, and he blushes.

Seventeen-year-old Akane, although looking tired and disheveled, still appears delicate and airy against the dark yellow and red hues of the sky. Ranma blushes a little harder and releases her wrist immediately.

"I'm…really tired," Akane replies, surprised by Ranma's sudden embarrassed expression. "I didn't sleep at all last night."

Ranma rubs the back of his neck, trying to fight down the redness of his face.

"Ya should've said something," he mumbles. "I was …worried."

Akane's heart twinges, and she suddenly meets his gaze. Ranma, however, averts his eyes in embarrassment.

"Sorry," Akane answers. "I've just been too tired to think." She smiles a little bit, before grabbing his shoulder and ushering him onward. "Come on, Kasumi is waiting with an after school snack."

Ranma continues to battle the flush in his cheeks down as he and Akane walk side by side to return home.

* * *

Akane brushes her teeth intently, determined to clear her mind so she can fall asleep peacefully. She stares at her exhausted expression in the mirror and feels a little grim. If she can't sleep tonight, she'll really be in trouble. Especially since Ranma's behavior earlier, her mind doesn't stop churning. She keeps replaying him grabbing her wrist and expressing his concern.

She and Ranma exhibit a consistent pattern of bickering and acting with contempt towards one another. But they risk their lives for each other countless of times, and she trusts him completely with her life…or so she thinks. Recently, everything between them seems so charged. They're either really mad at each other or getting along swimmingly.

And Ranma exploding over Kuno set her over the edge. For once, Kuno caught her really off guard, and she needed him. Instead of protecting her, Ranma lashed out and pushed her back into his arms. They fought for hours that night about her "allowing" Kuno's advances.

Thinking about this again fills Akane with fury. She looks down and realizes her toothbrush is extra worn down from her aggressive brushing. Scornfully, she throws it back in the drawer and stomps out of the bathroom.

Instantly, she bumps into Ranma on his way to the bathroom.

"Watch out," she mumbles.

"What's with you," Ranma grumbles back. "I was just bringing you some melatonin."

"Yeah," Akane responds. "Because _that_ will help."

Ranma, dressed in his white tank top and sweatpants, crosses his arms over his chest in irritation.

"No, you're right," he says. "You should go to Kuno for help. I think _he's_ the one you need."

"Since when was this about Kuno?" Akane yells. "You're insufferable!" She turns on her heel and stomps to her room, slamming the door behind her.

Ranma mumbles something about her being uncute, which she hears, and shuffles into the bathroom.

Akane feels a little guilty, knowing it's unfair to spring another bad mood on him when they just returned to normal. However, his response about Kuno confirms her suspicion about not being able to trust him, which saddens her.

She slips into her pajamas and sighs. Nothing she tries will really clear her mind, and she thinks maybe the melatonin actually can help. Curse her inability to get over her mood and be cordial with Ranma.

* * *

 _Darkness and sinking. Those are the first thing Akane notices. Everything around her transitions from grey into pitch black. Then, she begins pushing downwards. She can't pinpoint where she is or how she got there, but she's panicked. Her soul suffocates in fear as she tries to claw her way out of whatever is thickening around her body and drowning it._

" _Ranma!" His name leaves her lips the moment her fear reaches a fever pitch._

 _A familiar shadow looms over her. It's Ranma, looking down at her predicament. She feels relief and reaches out her hand, waiting for him to grasp it._

 _However, he does not make any movement to pull her up. Meanwhile, she sinks further down into the black mass._

" _Ranma!" A soft, high pitched voice calls out from behind him._

" _Sorry, Akane," Ranma says, preparing to turn around. "But I don't think you need my help."_

 _Akane scrambles to pull herself out of the mass but doesn't budge. Suddenly, Shampoo appears from behind Ranma, wrapping her arm around his._

" _Let's go?" She asks him._

 _He nods in agreement, and without any more acknowledgement of Akane, they depart._

 _Akane screams at them and screams, feeling as if her lungs are hollowed out. Suddenly, the black mass entraps her arms and begins to bury her up to her neck._

 _Tears stream down her face and she sobs, feeling terrified and betrayed. It's not long before she's buried and can't breathe._

Suddenly, Akane seemingly wakes in her room. But she can't move. Something shuffles in the corner and looms. It terrifies her like the black mass, but her arms and her lungs betray her. As much as she tries to wriggle free of the invisible embrace, she remains still. All she can do is breathe faster and faster as whatever lurks in the corner moves closer.

Akane can hear her raspy attempts at a scream leave her lips but nothing of substance. As her fear heightens and the _thing_ jumps, she finally manages a shriek and bursts out into a sob.

Instantly, a streak of light cuts across the room as her door opens and Ranma stumbles in.

"Akane!" he shrieks, running towards her.

Finally, her body can move, and she jolts upwards, unable to stop the tears streaming down her face.

"I couldn't move!" She cries, shoulders shaking and body quivering.

Ranma, completely enhanced with concern and confusion, glances behind him and notices that no one else is awake. He also realizes that there's no threat in her room.

"One sec," he says, crossing back over the room and shutting her door.

"Darkness-"

He flips the light on immediately and full glimpses his fiancé's expression of utter terror. Hurriedly, he shuffles back over and kneels next to her bed.

"What the hell is wrong, Akane?"

She is still crying and can barely speak without stumbling over her words.

"It was a b-bad dream," she admits. "And then I woke up and I c-couldn't move and I thought there was s-something in my room-"

"Sleep paralysis," Ranma responds. "I used to get it training with Pops in the mountains. Nothing that can hurt ya."

Her wide eyes and continued tears suggest his rational response doesn't help quell the fear. Instinctively, Ranma reaches out and holds her hand, pursuing another approach. He feels genuine concern, knowing that there's not a lot that scares a martial artist like Akane.

"This is kind of what happened last night," Akane opens up, not looking him in the eyes. "I had a scary dream and then I couldn't sleep all night."

"What kind of dream?" Ranma asks, trying not to think about Akane's warm hand nestled in his own.

Akane blushes further and wipes her face with her free hand.

"I-I don't really want to tell you."

She receives a pointed look from Ranma.

"Well fine," he says in irritation. "If ya don't want to open up or tell me or whatever, I don't really care."

Akane grimaces and feels her face flush. She sniffles in the awkward silence.

"It's about you."

Ranma perks up and looks at her, feeling his heart sink.

"It's what?"

"In my dream," Akane explains. "I'm drowning, and I reach out for you, and you leave me…"

Ranma's heart beats quickly. He feels a little angry, sad, and disappointed (in himself?). Seeing Akane's burdened face so hurt and weary leads him to shudder. He thinks her dream is ridiculous, since every time Akane finds herself in trouble he saves her; case in point, him rushing to her room the moment he hears her cry out.

Akane burns in anticipation while she watches Ranma digest the information.

"Well," he says. "That's just stupid since I always save ya, so nothing to worry about."

Anger starts to fill Akane, ironically giving her strength again.

"You didn't save me with Kuno yesterday," she argues. "And I know you think something was going on, but that's not true. And I _needed_ your help. Instead of helping me you just got angry."

Ranma instantly feels guilty. He realizes he allowed his jealousy over Kuno holding Akane cloud his judgement. Then, finally recognizing how jealous he was the other day drives him crazy. It's just Akane, right? Why does he feel so attached, so protective, so on edge?

"I-I'm sorry, okay?" He stammers. "Normally, ya beat his ass so I didn't know. If I'd thought you needed help, I would've rushed in."

His hand tightens around hers, and for a moment they stare at each other.

"I'm sorry, too," Akane admits. "I've been extra moody, but I don't mean to push you away."

They suddenly realize the air between them and jolt out of the position.

"Do you feel better?" Ranma asks, standing up.

"U-Um," Akane stutters.

Truthfully, she feels frightened still. Embarrassingly, she doesn't want him to leave her side, and after the last sleepless night and recurring nightmare, she doesn't think she'll feel better for a while.

"Ya don't have to say yes…" Ranma says, trailing off, noticing the desperate look in her eyes. "We could just …hang out or something."

Akane furiously flushes red in her bed, eyes puffy from crying, and face burning with emotion.

"N-n-n-n-not like that!" Ranma exclaims while extending his arms out and matching her level of embarrassment. "Just until ya feel better!"

He almost anticipates a hit from her or something of that nature but she nods instead. She slides her position above the covers and curls her knees up, making room for him to sit by her.

They sit in silence for a moment, the warmth of their bodies touching each other keeping their attention drawn. Akane calms down more after feeling Ranma's rhythmic breathing beside her. Being keen and observant, Ranma notices Akane's subtle recovery. Something inside of him burns feverishly, the realization that his presence soothes her, the realization that he _wants_ his presence to sooth her.

He never has the time to process these emotions for her, since they usually reach their highest intensity in battle when she's in danger. Now, everything is slowed down, and no one is there to interrupt whatever moment they're having.

Akane, feeling much more composed and safe, without realizing it, starts to succumb to her exhaustion. Before Ranma can say anything, Akane slips into unconsciousness, her head dipping to rest on his shoulder. He finds himself in a precarious situation. On one hand, he wants nothing more than to cuddle up and sleep next to Akane. On the other hand, he fears the Tendo family catching the two of them and wants to return to his room. The consequences of getting caught like this certainly would be a combination of disgrace and pride.

He decides that once she's in a deep sleep, and he confirms the nightmares are gone, he will return to his room. Fifteen more minutes can't harm anyone, right?

* * *

Early in the morning, Akane begins to stir. She feels comfortable and warm, cuddled up in the sheets and blankets. Instinctively, she huddles closer the warm mass in her bed and nuzzles her head. In response, the warm mass envelops her further. The grogginess of early morning wears off a little and she slowly realizes that the warm mass is Ranma.

She _knows_ this isn't good, and she needs to kick him out of her bed, and her family can't catch them sleeping _together_! But…his arm is around her, and her head is on his chest, and they're warm. Akane suddenly feels overwhelmed with emotion, her stomach in knots. Everything is vulnerable.

Ranma, in his tired state, pulls her in even closer, resting his chin on her head. Akane shuts her eyes, absorbing the moment, not wanting to fall asleep. _This feels…safe._

"Raaaaaanma?!" The sound of Genma's voice resonating through the Tendo household jolts Ranma into consciousness.

"What am I-" Ranma looks around confused, while Akane covers her mouth. "Wait, this is actually happen-"

He stops abruptly, twisting around a few times in Akane's bed.

"D-d-d-don't get the wrong idea, Akane!" He cries out. "I just wanted to make sure you fell asleep, a-a-a-and I feel asleep-"

"It's fine," Akane cuts him off, half smiling. "I slept, actually. So, I'm happy."

Her expression melts him, but he doesn't have time to process his emotions since Genma's screaming voice brings him back to reality. Of course, the one time his father is actually concerned about where he is.

"You'd better leave out the window," Akane advises.

"O-o-of course," Ranma says, scrambling out of her bed. He unlatches the window and gets ready to leave when she stops him with her hand on his forearm.

"Thanks Ranma," she says. "You really helped me out."

Fighting down the furious blush, Ranma remarks, "No problem" and rushes out the window.

In the distance, Akane hears Ranma re-entering the house and confronting his father about some "early training" he was doing this morning. However, she's busy thinking about the fact they just spent the night together _in her bed_ , and this makes her heart race incessantly. What does any of this mean? What do _they_ mean? There's one thing that she _is_ sure of: Ranma cures sleepless nights. And that's a start.

* * *

A/N: Okay I know I haven't written in a _**long**_ time but I NEEDED to get this story out; I've been thinking about it forever. Haven't proofread either hahaha I'll probably do that later.

First, I was gonna make this a one shot, but I'm not very satisfied with that. I'm thinking it's gonna be three parts.


	2. part II

_Part II_

Ranma tries not to, but he shies away from Akane. She finds it unavoidable to shy away from him as well. They don't know what to say to each other, and everyone notices their increased awkwardness, especially Nodoka, who pesters Ranma about it incessantly. There are few times when Ranma and Akane truly reveal their intense affection for one another, but it's typically in the heat of a battle or danger. This time, they voluntarily revealed something quite vulnerable.

Needless to say, this does nothing to help Akane's sleeping troubles. Two weeks pass and she's more tired than ever, but amidst her and Ranma's tensions, no one seems to notice. She feels hopelessly exhausted, and to top it off, frustrated with Ranma for not saying anything. At the same time, she feels guilty because she also hasn't reached out to him either.

Even Ryoga notices their change in behavior toward one another.

"Ranma, you fiend," he confronts his frenemy. "If you have defiled Akane, in any way-"

Ranma gives him a good kick.

"Just shut up, will ya?"

Akane, who is reading a book in the kitchen, pretends not to hear them fighting out in the yard. However, she expends no effort to retain the words on the page and instead absorbs the conversation between the two boys.

"Something must've happened," Ryoga grunts. "She hasn't talked to either of us since-"

Ranma gives him another kick, sending him straight into the pond, only to emerge as a small, black pig. Conveniently and coincidentally, Akane glances up from her book.

"P-chan!" She exclaims.

And without acknowledging Ranma, she rushes forward and scoops the pig up. He almost moves to say something to her, but she quickly trails back into the house while averting her eyes.

Ranma blinks at her as she disappears around the corner. He doesn't know how she can be so daft, not realizing that the instant Royga disappeared in the pond, the pig emerged. Ranma shakes his head in irritation, repeating the scene of Akane scooping up Royga and dipping out, without even saying a word to him.

 _Stupid, Akane. Wouldn't hurt to talk to me,_

Akane clutches P-chan to her chest, perhaps a little too tightly, while she climbs the stairs to her room. _I can't believe Ranma,_ she thinks, _he didn't even say a word to me the whole time I was sitting there._ The pig squirms in her arms as she stomps all the way up. Finally, she opens her door, and feeling more exhausted than ever, collapses into bed.

* * *

The next morning, Ranma finds himself running a little late, or maybe everyone else is running early. When he stumbles downstairs, clothes haphazardly put on, he notices the dishes are starting to get cleared from the table.

"Oy," he asks. "Why is everyone eating so early?"

Nabiki sighs.

"While we're wasting away at school," she explains. "Everyone's going into the city on a _fun_ shopping trip."

"Don't worry, Nabiki," Kasumi says smiling. "I'm going to look for new pair of tennis shoes for you anyway. You have holes in yours, right?"

"Really?" Nabiki remarks beaming. "Okay, okay, this trip is acceptable."

Everyone else scrambles around putting on their shoes and coats in order to get a quick start out the door. Ranma blinks in shock at the chaos.

"Oh," Kasumi says suddenly. "Ranma, can you bring this up to Akane?" She's holding up a bento box wrapped in a cloth to him. He stares at it in confusion.

"What?" He responds in irritation. "Can't she come down and get it? Speaking of that, she's gonna be late."

Kasumi plops it into his hands.

"Akane is sick today and will be staying in bed," she informs him, smiling a little. "This is some food in case she gets hungry. Will you bring it to her? We're just heading out."

Ranma nods in confusion while everyone shuffles out the door.

 _Sick? And everyone's leaving her?_

He slowly makes his way up the steps, feeling incredibly awkward. _Great_ , Ranma thinks, _we've been basically ignoring each other and now I don't know what to say to her._ He pauses outside her room, his fist midair in front of her wooden door. Funny enough, he needs to hype himself just to knock. Finally, he softly taps the door a few times with his knuckle and receives a weak call from Akane.

Ranma opens the door and slides into the room. He barely spots Akane in bed, her nose and forehead just sticking out above the covers. He shuffles in with the box of food and places it on her desk.

"Not coming to school?" He asks.

She pulls the covers down to respond, revealing her flushed cheeks and sweaty collar.

"No," she says sheepishly. "I have a fever."

Immediately, Ranma reaches down and slips his hands below her bangs to feel the temperature of her forehead. He recoils at the shear heat of her skin, finding it impossible to suppress the worry in his brow.

Instinctively, he covers his emotions with "you're awfully sweaty", to which Akane swats his hand away and turns over, grunting "leave me alone".

Ranma still stands there, staring at her billowed form underneath the blanket. He feels considerably concerned, yet irritated at her somehow (which he suppresses his guilt for). He also feels unavoidably angry about the fact everyone is leaving her alone. Why couldn't Kasumi or Nodoka stay behind, or even Soun? He even notices that Royga is no longer with her, and for once he wouldn't mind leaving her in bed with the pig.

Despite feeling so worried, Ranma can't help but let his defense mechanisms kick in. "Nothing to worry about anyway," Ranma mutters, turning on his heel. "Macho chick like you ain't gonna get fazed by-"

Something soft hits him in the back of the head, leading him to hightail out the door.

Akane huffs to herself. _Can't Ranma care about anyone other than himself?_

* * *

Ranma finds it _impossible_ to focus at school. First of all, he narrowly escaped punishment upon arriving for being late. Then, he completely fails to focus on anything other than the fact that Akane is at home sick, _alone_. Of course, the one time she's sick, the homebodies aren't there to take care of her. And no one volunteers to stay behind? It's maddening!

Then he starts to think that while Kasumi left him food to give her, there was no water. Did she have a glass of water by her desk? He can't remember. Visions of Akane dying from dehydration flood his imagination. He feels so discombobulated about what he wants to do, he sits in his desk seething.

Finally, around noon he abruptly stands in the middle of class.

"Gotta go!" He announces.

Miss Hinako prepares to stand in his way, but he dodges her and immediately slips out of the classroom without another word. He dashes down the hallway and skirts around corners. Then, Ranma swiftly leaps over the school gate.

He's halfway home before he stops dead in his tracks. _Wait a minute-_ he thinks suddenly. _What am I doing? What is this gonna look like?_ Panic sets over him as he imagines the scene of him walking in and explaining to Akane how he was so worried that he abandoned school to make sure she was okay. _I could pretend that I forgot my lunch and then just_ casually _check on her. God, I'm so stupid._

After hitting himself a few times, Ranma musters the courage to return home. He sets his bag down on the table and then glances at the staircase. _Just go up and see her. It's not that hard!_ He saunters up the steps and to her door, just as he did in the morning. More quickly this time, he knocks on the door.

"Akane," he calls out, worrying she might think a stranger snuck into the house. "It's me, Ranma!"

He waits for a moment but receives no response, which concerns him of course. After waiting another twenty seconds and knocking a few more times, he announces that he's coming in and twists the doorknob.

The door creaks open and Ranma witnesses Akane passed out in her bed. From far away, she seems to be sleeping peacefully, but he creeps forward and notices her face drenched with sweat, body panting, and eyes half open.

"Oy! Akane!" Ranma exclaims. "You okay?!" He dips down to examine her disheveled and ill appearance.

She makes a feeble movement in response, revealing her chapped lips. Just as Ranma anticipated, she suffers from intense dehydration. He feels her forehead once more, and it's scorching hot.

"Hang on, Akane," Ranma assures her, standing sharply. "I'm gonna grab some water and ice!"

He turns to leave and Akane weakly grabs his wrist, looking him desperately in the eyes. She appears almost fearful. He gives her a pat and says, "Don't worry I'm coming right back."

Ranma immediately sprints out of the room, gathering a bag of ice and a tall glass of water. He takes no longer than a minute to return to her bedroom, pulling up her desk chair so he can sit by the bed.

Akane watches him with unfocused eyes, unable to speak. Ranma wonders what she might say if she could, but he's concerned enough about her to not fear embarrassment at this point. He wraps the ice in a towel and places it right on her forehead.

She moves to protest the chilliness but Ranma pushes her shoulders down.

"Stop, ya need to get your fever down," he argues.

She stops squirming, so he approaches her with the glass of water. Tentatively, she drinks it with his help, and slowly some color returns to her face. Ranma feels his heartrate start to slow down, and he just then realizes that it was elevated far above normal.

Instantly, he retracts into the desk chair, taking a few breaths.

"Sometimes you can be so stupid, ya know," he tells her. "Not drinking any water? That could kill you!"

No matter how the words come out, or which words he chooses, Ranma cannot hide how deeply worried he felt. And despite feeling completely out of sorts, Akane detects this easily. She reaches one of her arms out from under the covers and places her hand on his wrist, as if to say _thank you._

Ranma awkwardly sits there, overanalyzing how to respond to this. Eventually, with a shaky motion, he places his hand on top of hers. They don't say anything, which gives Ranma plenty of time to intensely contemplate. While he internally has a heart attack, Akane slowly drifts off.

Ranma shifts his gaze towards their hands still touching, and then shifts it towards Akane's sleeping form. One part of him screams to move; another part of him refuses. He doesn't want to lose sight of her sleeping soundly, but also fears facing her when she wakes up healthier and ready to challenge him.

Eventually, he places her hand back under the covers and switches out the ice. However, he remains glued to her side for what must be hours. That is, until a suspicious noise perks his ears.

Swiftly, Ranma pivots around and sees movement in the tree outside Akane's window. He thrusts open the window and reaches his hand into the tree, detecting something immediately abnormal. Upon further inspection, he discovers Soun and Genma camped out among the branches using binoculars to spy through the window.

"Oy…." Ranma begins. "Don't tell me this was all some scheme of yours…?"

Soun and Genma start to nervously laugh.

"Now Ranma," Genma reasons. "Akane is _actually_ sick but we thought if we left and went to the mall-"

"I'd be worried or something?" Ranma cuts him off. "You guys are ridiculous!"

And with that, he yanks them out of the tree, sending their flailing bodies crashing into the ground.

Immediately, the resounding clatter stirs Akane awake.

"Ranma?"

Ranma, still half out the window and looking awfully suspicious, turns to see Akane now conscious. She slightly props herself up above the covers, eyelids half shut. Ranma retracts from the window, bumping his head on the way in (distracted by Akane staring at him intently).

"Wh-what's going on?" She asks, extremely confused.

"Nothing!" Ranma quickly remarks. He doesn't want Akane to know anything about the fiasco with their parents. He takes a seat at her desk chair. Feeling awkward once more, they avert stares.

"You really helped me today," Akane says, looking embarrassedly at her covers. "I felt so sick I couldn't move. I don't know what would've happened if you didn't come."

Anger floods through Ranma as he reflects on that fact that going to the mall today and leaving Akane sick at home was their families' scheme of pushing the two together. Akane could have been in serious danger.

"Well, everyone here is dumb," Ranma answers. "Our families are dumb leaving you. _You're_ dumb because you didn't drink or eat anything. Also, you should've gotten ice before your fever got this bad and-"

Akane makes a sudden movement ripping her covers off. Ranma instinctively positions himself defensively, anticipating her to smack him around. Instead, she pauses and then looks at him in the eyes.

"You must've been really worried," she comments, almost giggling. "Thanks!"

Ranma finally gathers the courage to glance at her, and he becomes faced with her blushing, grateful expression. It nearly crushes him.

 _C-c-c-cute…shit._

Eventually. he realizes he's stalled too long after becoming debilitated by her charm and he quickly remarks, "Well, if you could stop being stupid and take care of yourself, I would appreciate that."

Again, he expects to get hit, but to his _ultimate_ surprise Akane hugs him.

 _Thump-thump, thump-thump…_

It takes all of his willpower not to conjure a snarky response about wanting to avoid her illness, just to ease the emotional and hormonal tidal wave crashing through his body. Akane senses this, of course, but feels so moved by his earlier actions, she easily overcomes worrying about it.

And then, with amazing courage, Ranma returns the hug. Not only that, but he clears his throat and apologizes.

"U-uh, I also wanted to say sorry," he shakily begins. "I think I…uh…haven't talked to you lately. I mean, I didn't realize something was wrong until it was too late."

Akane breaks apart from him and leans back.

"Yeah…me too," she agrees. "Ever since we-"

Both of them furiously flush red, reflecting on the incidence in Akane's bed weeks ago. They find it almost too hard to recover and resume the conversation.

"I-It's fine," Ranma speaks up. "I mean, your problem was concerning. So, helping out was…nothing." He pauses, reading Akane's expression and aggressively fighting the flush in his cheeks.

Akane finds herself speechless. She's known, especially since Jusendo, that Ranma feels very strongly for her (and the vice, of course.) However, in their daily life, they rarely show this much affection. And just now, he openly expressed his concern for her and proved once more the lengths he'd go through to ensure her safety. She feels compelled to actually confide in him and explain her situation.

"Well," she says. "The truth is I still haven't been sleeping. No one has really noticed, but after having those nightmares, I can't sleep through the night. I'm so tired all the time, and it feels like its wearing my immune system down."

Ranma digests her words, feeling immediately guilty for not noticing that she was suffering and also concerned because she clearly faced resulting negative consequences.

"I think falling asleep this afternoon," Akane continues. "Is the longest I've slept in the past week."

Ranma's not dimwitted, so he quickly recognizes a pattern. It's him. He realizes the only two times she's been able to fall asleep easily are with him. Of course, he's turning the gears and thinking so quickly that his mouth gets ahead of his brain.

"Well, if all you need is _me_ to fall asleep, then problem solved. I'll be there!"

It takes seconds to realize what words he actually just said, and he clamps a hand over his mouth. The word "blush" doesn't even come close to describing the pigment that floods their faces.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Ahhh here's the awaited part 2. I'm happy I decided to write more than a one-shot. Again, I've done some brisk editing and will do more later, so apologies if there are typos or mistakes.**


	3. part III

_Part III_

"N-n-no not like th-that!" Ranma immediately asserts, fighting the blush in his cheeks and trying to ignore the intense (perverted?) thoughts flooding his brain. He just wants to help her, and maybe, be close to her. He can't stop thinking about how he's the one to calm her down and lull her to sleep, and he wants to be the only person like that to her.

Akane is too embarrassed and reddened to speak but she nods a little. They rarely discuss their feelings in this manner.

"I just mean I want you to sleep better," Ranma continues to explain, looking away. "So you're not so much a liability...it's getting annoying."

His attempt at seeming unconcerned fails as Akane muffles a laugh, while he completely averts his eyes from hers.

"Well…" she finally says. "Thanks anyway."

* * *

"What's up with you two?" Nabiki questions, eyeing Akane and Ranma at breakfast the next morning.

She watches a very interesting interaction in which Ranma picks a piece of fish from his rice bowl and places it in Akane's. Then, Akane retaliates and places it back in his bowl. This back and forth passing continues until Nabiki gets fed up and interrupts them.

"Don't you see how pale Akane still is?" Ranma says through sloppy bites of his breakfast. "Can't have her collapsing again...making everyone worry for nothing."

Akane rolls her eyes, accustomed to this jargon coming from his mouth.

"Swallow before speaking, idiot," she scolds him. "You're gonna choke like that."

Ranma swipes food from her bowl in one swift movement,.

"Just kidding," he mumbles. "It seems like your health and energy is fully restored."

The bickering throughout breakfast ensues but Nabiki smiles. After weeks of awkward shuffling and avoidance, it's normal again.

* * *

The school buzzes with excitement as students prepare for the upcoming autumn festival. It's an opportunity for different classes to show of their skills and interests, easily evolving into a competitive event pitting students against each other, but nonetheless, very fun.

Akane and Ranma's junior class heavily debate what they're going to showcase. Of course, Ranma is steadfast to assert for something martial arts related, but most of the class disagrees. A lot of other ideas arise such as putting on a play, haunted house, or some sort of dance. Gosunguki offers a disturbing idea that everyone tunes out for the sake of their sanity.

Eventually, with some probing by Hinako-sensei, they agree on "snack bar (with service)" as a concept. Everyone settles on cooking early on but loud guffaws and teasing by Ranma (aimed at Akane) ensure that there's a service component as well.

Ranma rubs the sore spot induced by Akane's fist.

"I'm sorry," he groans. "I'm just _not_ trying to poison the whole school with your cooking."

She raises an eyebrow.

"It's fine," she retorts. "I'll ensure many _men_ are enticed to come into our snack shop."

This earns her a pained look from Ranma, more pained than she expected, but she feels satisfied.

Ukyo is enthusiastic as ever, given the opportunity to show off her cooking abilities, and in her mind, outshine Akane. She pats Akane on the head.

"Ah, no worries," she cooes. "You're gonna be an excellent server on the sidelines."

Akane resists the urge to hit her too.

* * *

Akane and the other girls who decided to serve on the night of the festival agreed that they wanted to dress up for the occasion. They flirted with different ideas, from traditional clothes to professional to cute. However, they settled on a sleek and sexy theme for the attire, with intentions to attract the most customers in the school, boys and girls.

Frantically, Akane sifts through her closet. She didn't actually plan the outfit when discussing with the other girls, so now she's left with the decision by herself, and the numerous options weigh her down.

 _Sleek and sexy,_ she thinks. _I can't be_ too _sexy but I also can't be that casual._

She doesn't feel satisfied until she fingers a black dress near the back of the closet. It's a dress Nabiki lent her but she never wore (and clearly forgot to return). It's relatively short, and cinches at the waist. The necklines dips into a V which is sexy without losing all modesty.

After putting it on, she feels confident. The closure at the waistline cuts her perfectly, and the length of the dress glorifies her toned thighs. Inwardly, she laughs. She'll show Ranma that without cooking she can pull her own weight for the class. All she needs are shoes.

She knocks on Nabiki's door to borrow some. Nabiki answers, looks her younger sister up and down once, and whistles predatorily. However, in a short moment her eyebrows furrow.

"Is that my-"

"Yeah, I need shoes to go with it." Akane interrupts.

Whilst Nabiki begins a rant about interest for the forgone time in which she hasn't possessed the dress and blah blah blah, Akane discovers a pair of black heels that match the dress well and won't completely destroy her feet.

"I'll keep that in mind," Akane says to Nabiki, strutting out of her room and closing the door.

Nabiki, although annoyed, feels a little proud. Her sister is growing up.

As Akane shuts the door though, she makes eye contact with Ranma, who is standing across the hallway in front of her room.

He deadpans.

 _Wh-what is she_ wearing _?_

He pays attention the daintiness of her waist, the curvature and boldness of her thighs, which are elegantly lengthened by the heels, and the low-cut neckline which dangerously trails her chest.

"You're not going in that," he suddenly blurts commandingly, his voice octaves lower than intended.

Akane cocks her head, taken aback but not wanting to show it. Her dynamic with Ranma definitely feels chaotic lately, but they keep surprising each other with their boldness.

"Um...why not?" Akane trails, watching his eyes and noticing something...hungry in them.

Ranma's mouth dries and his stomach coils, but he doesn't satisfy her with a proper answer.

"Fine," he mutters, exiting the hallway and sauntering down the stairs.

Akane huffs, feeling her annoyance grow. She had felt so comfortable around him, safe. But he doesn't own her. Who is he to say what she can wear? And what _was_ that in his voice, in his eyes?

 _If he wants it that way,_ she thinks, _so be it. I'm just gonna have to try even harder._

"Nabiki," she calls out, turning back on her heel towards her sister's room. "I need a little more help."

* * *

Ranma leaves earlier than Akane for the school festival since his role involves food preparation. He isn't trusted to lead in the cooking or anything, but everyone appreciates his skill in chopping meat and vegetables with unmatched speed and precision.

Ukyo eyes him suspiciously as he chops an onion furiously until it becomes a heap of quarter inch cubes, much finer than intended or required.

"What's up with you?" She questions, noting the juice staining Ranma's apron from the finely chopped onion. "You're chopping, um, aggressively don't ya think?"

Ranma wipes a bead of sweat from his forehead.

"Me? Aggressive? _I'm_ not the one who's aggressive…" he grumbles, continuing to move down the line of vegetables at an impeccable, martial arts-level pace.

He only stops when he hears a clunk. Looking over he realizes another male classmate dropped a pot on the floor that he was bringing to their makeshift stove in the classroom.

Ranma shifts his gaze from his classmate to where the distraction came from. He nearly cuts his finger wide open as he gapes at Akane standing in the doorway.

She not only stands there elegantly in the sinful black dress, but her hair curls into small, loose ringlets that frame her face. Mascara delicately accentuates her lashes, and faint traces of glitter on her face illuminate her glowing skin and freckles. Finally, a pinkish and alluring gloss draws attention to her lips, which are twitching in response to the attention from her classmates.

"Yo, Akane!" Her classmates hoot and holler at her. "What's with the getup? Didn't realize it was our lucky day!"

She laughs, averting her eyes.

"Well, we wanna be the most popular classroom. We've all gotta try our hardest."

 _Be chill, be chill, be chill_ Ranma internally chants to himself like a mantra.

He recognizes the feeling in his gut too well to deny it, and it's not hatred or annoyance for her. It's lustful and jealous and, above all, extremely intense. His urge to protect her from their male classmates and cover her up almost justifies doing something hurtful but he suppresses those thoughts and remains silent.

The other girls who will help serve arrive shortly after, but none draw nearly as much attention as Akane. Ranma truthfully doesn't think they're worth the time of day, and he wonders when he started to think of Akane as an ethereal beauty.

Akane at first thinks she captivated Ranma, but now she sees his gaze fixed on the cutting board, not daring move towards her direction. She's a little confused and annoyed, but also surprisingly disappointed. In this moment, she realizes that her motives heavily revolved around conjuring a reaction from Ranma.

Her gut wrenches. _Oh this can't be good._ She watches him, swiftly cutting vegetables in his apron, looking _good_ in his apron, and takes a step back. Realization dawns upon her, but she doesn't have time to process it.

Hinako-sensei immediately drills out orders to the servers about preparing the tables and dishes. Then she instructs them to go outside the classroom and attract visitors while the students cooking prepare food.

Akane quickly becomes an attraction for the classroom and succeeds in luring customers in, much to Ranma's dismay. Out of the corner of his eye, he watches her sit students down and take their orders. He looks away when she comes near to pick up the food. But he continually focuses on her. Since when did he _ever_ get this distracted? This is a challenge, anyway. He should be excited by it.

Although most of the customers are predominantly male, Akane finds herself with female fans as well. But no one manages to break Ranma until Kuno slithers into the classroom.

Without glancing at the server who addresses him, Kuno saunters straight to Akane, who is busy delivering food to a table.

Ranma doesn't even think. Kuno's hands leave his sides, and he's suddenly smacked across the entire classroom.

Akane, unaware of Kuno even behind her, jumps in shock. She realizes quickly that Ranma punched the lights out of him, and she turns to him. His eyes bares down on her like before, dark and hungry. Normally, when he does something like this his gaze comes off as annoyed and worried, maybe protective, but this is something completely different.

She suddenly breathes a little heavier, feeling inadvertently nervous.

"You're not allowed to touch the servers," Ranma speaks to Kuno but doesn't take his gaze away from Akane.

"Ranma," Akane says, starting to scold him, because it's the only thing that will make her feel normal in this ever-intensifying situation. "He didn't even touch me, you're-"

He interrupts her by snagging her wrist and pulling her out of the classroom. Before anyone can see, he tears open a door and shoulders her through. However, he doesn't get a word in before Akane bonks him on the head.

"You idiot," she says. "What are you doing, pulling me around?"

Suddenly, she realizes it's quite dark, and they're actually in a closet, not a room, and she's pressed flush against his chest. She faintly sees the blush on Ranma's cheeks as he's backed against the wall.

Ranma immediately loses the confidence he felt just moments ago and can't even stammer out a response.

"What's gotten into you," she continues, feeling a little more bold than him. "You're acting so weird."

"And you're not?" He replies slowly, choosing his words carefully.

"Kuno wasn't even doing anything," Akane presses. "There was no reason to-"

A surge of emotion ensues, and Ranma slides from under and turns her around. Now, Akane stands against the wall, looking up at Ranma, who places a tentative hand near head, half trapping her.

They barely can see each other in the dim light, but the close proximity endowed from the closet allows them to just read each other's expressions.

"You once told me," Ranma begins, sounding more soft than he intended. "That you wanted me to protect you from Kuno, undoubtedly."

Akane swallows, feeling his breath fan over her face. Her legs become like jello.

"Okay, yeah," she agrees, slowly. "But I didn't even notice he was behind me until you moved to smack the daylight out of him."

"Well, I noticed," Ranma sternly states.

Akane can't conjure a response. She only gazes at his dimly lit face, wondering what to think, willing herself to keep standing and not buckle the way her knees are begging her to.

"Given what happened last time with Kuno," Ranma musters the courage to go on. "I'm not taking any more risks. We wouldn't want any more...sleepless nights, would we?"

Akane finally catches on to Ranma's drift, but still doesn't fully process it. She's still enamored by their proximity, by her own intentions to snag his attention, and by his change in behavior.

Suddenly, a beam of light cuts through the dark and their classmates expose them. In embarrassment, Ranam squirms out, beet red, once again losing his confidence.

Akane also blushes furiously but feels unsatisfied. While everyone starts teasing them incessantly, which isn't abnormal anyway considering their fiance-status, Akane leans up to his ear.

"We're going to finish talking about _this_ later," she informs him before walking away.

The rest of the festival goes by smoothly, apart from Ranma receiving a quite intense scolding from a heartbroken Ukyo. Akane also ignores the dirty looks from her all night.

At the end of the night, Ranam _insists_ on joining Akane and the other servers for cleaning duty. She tries fighting him and insists on meeting at home but it works to no avail. To be fair, the process goes by more quickly with Ranma applying some "Anything Goes Dish Cleaning" techniques.

When it's all done and everyone parts ways to walk home, Akane suddenly realizes _ahh…_

They walk silently and awkwardly home, no words exchanged between them. Upon arrival, they're forced to relay the school festival to the rest of the household. Some jokes are passed about Nabiki skipping the festival, and the tension in the air normalizes momentarily.

However, when Ranma and Akane climb the stairs and the clock ticks past 11 pm, the awkwardness settles between them once more. Ranma does make an attempt to escape by directing himself towards the room he shares with his dad, but Akane boldly shoves him into her room.

"You haven't finished explaining your weirdness," she says with a sigh, walking in after him and shutting the door.

" _My_ weirdness?" Ranma gags. "What about this?!"

He motions towards her dress and makes a conscious effort to not actually run his hands down her tempting frame.

"I was just trying to attract customers at the festival," Akane explains. "And it _worked_."

She knows she trapped him a little bit, prompting him to explain further why her dress _wasn't_ okay. He either had to admit something further or settle.

"I didn't see any of the other servers dressed like this," Ranma replies, skirting around the subject slightly.

Akane becomes more annoyed the more he explains. This isn't the first time she's worn skimpy clothes. To be fair, she doesn't usually resort to this attire. But she's participated in swimsuit competitions and worn revealing unitards and donned an assortment of other questioning garments that Ranma didn't say anything about before. _Not to mention,_ as a female, Ranma enjoyed much more revealing and skimpy outfits.

"Is this the first time I've worn a dress like this or put on makeup?" Akane challenges. "You're acting ridiculous. Also, you've worn _way_ worse stuff than this as a girl, so don't get me started."

Ranma struggles to focus on the argument, his gaze glossing over her accentuated figure and delicate face as she looks up at him with doe eyes (angry doe eyes).

"Look," he says, almost giving in to all his sinful thoughts. " _I_ don't have a problem with ... _this._ " He motions to her with a wide gesture. "But…I do have a problem with everyone else."

"Wh-why…" Akane stammers, feeling the heat of his gaze bearing down on her all of a sudden. Her boldness slips away into oblivion.

"Because," Ranma answers, kissing his soul goodbye. "You're mine. You're _my_ fiance."

He knows the crimson color of his face is betraying the credibility of his assertiveness but all his inhibitions are suddenly out the window. Seventeen year old Ranma simply does not care.

A gulp, a step back, a step forward, and they let themselves loose.

Ranma cups her face and leans down to capture her lips. Akane moves up to meet him in synch and she melts. The softness of her lips are plush against his, and her knees feel wobbly again. Neither of them have experience kissing and the burning flush rushing up their necks and faces clearly exhibits this.

Keeping one hand on her cheek, Ranma moves another to her waist, holding her comfortably. A moment passes as they learn how to move against each other, and considering their lack of experience, everything feels relatively fluid.

Eventually, fueled by his possessive urge, Ranma licks against Akane's lips. She parts them breathlessly and lets him in. They moan in agreement at the increased connectedness of their bodies and lean into each other more.

Ranma's mind is a blur, but one thought crosses it - relief. Akane is his to protect, his to comfort, his to kiss.

The two of them start to stumble backwards as the intensity (and sloppiness) of their kissing heightens. Akane's calves reach her bed and she allows herself to fall backwards. Ranma doesn't follow at first, feeling shy and overwhelmed at the image of Akane laying on her bed, flushed and insistent. However, she pulls at his shirt, bringing him down on top of her.

He wastes no time in dipping back down to capture her lips, straddling her, hands traveling up her waist. Once he reaches the curvature of her breasts he stops and realizes what they're doing a little more clearly.

"H-Hey," he breaks apart from her, stammering. "Is this okay?"

Her cheeks red and eyes glossy, she looks up at him, meeting his gaze.

"Yes," she answers.

This is all Ranma needs before he swoops downward. But this time his lips brush over her bare neck and collarbone. He experimentally suckles on her soft skin and leaves slight trails of saliva. Slowly, he learns how to earn small moans of pleasure from her.

Their experimentation leads to both of them becoming moaning, but clothed, hot messes, unsure of what to do further and testing boundaries.

However, as soon as Ranma starts to move his hips hard against hers, there's a sound in the hallway of someone clearing their throat.

"Uh…" the voice calls out. "How strange to hear some noises in the hallway…" It's Nabiki outside of the door. "Hm...if the noises don't stop, one would...have to investigate as it _draws attention_."

Akane and Ranma begin to scramble in her bed with Ranma rolling off of her and their faces redder than they've ever been. However, the footsteps of Nabiki walking away in the hallway could be heard. They realize with relief they received a friendly warning from Akane's sister but they remain frozen in place.

Moments pass of them awkwardly looking at each other and then looking away.

"Well that escalated quickly…" Ranma mutters, willing his horniness to take a raincheck as he feels acutely aware of the tightness in his pants. "We need to be careful."

Akane nods, feeling embarrassed as she thinks about the noises she was making earlier and how easily she melted at Ranma's touch.

"I probably shouldn't leave out that door, though," Ranma says. "I can sneak out the window back into pop's room."

He starts to makes movements to leave Akane's bed but she clears her throat.

"I mean, you don't have to."

He turns to her, both their faces still blushing but at this point nothing can get more embarrassing. She looks at him with seriousness.

"This bed," she gestures as she speaks. "Has been...open to you recently, hasn't it?"

A series of thoughts flood his head as he wonders whether or not he'll have the willpower to sleep next to her peacefully after the sexual fiasco that just ensued between them. But he looks at her innocent eyes and his feelings mold back into the urge he had which started this mess. He wants her to sleep, and he knows what helps.

"Okay…" he agrees. "Can't have you not sleeping."

The tension melts a little and Akane gets up to change.

"Turn around," she commands.

"What? You're still going to make me turn around even after we just-"

She cuts him off with a pillow to the face.

"Don't get that confident."

He turns around and she slips out of the black dress and kicks off the heels. After putting on her yellow pajamas, she crawls back into the bed.

"You're not gonna do anything _weird,_ are you?" She asks him as they sit side by side, heads leaning against the wall.

"Um _you're_ not gonna do anything weird, are you?" Ranma counters, half joking but half concerned about her seducing him, even in the childish pajamas.

She scoffs, reaching over him to turn off the light.

"Oy," Ranma says as the darkness engulfs them. "Come here."

He slides them down the bed a little but pulls her further so her head is tucked beneath his chin. Instantly, she curls into him, feeling her heart hammer in her chest. With her ear pressed against him, she senses his rapid heartbeat as well.

"We can do this anytime you need to," Ranma continues nervously. "Or want to."

Akane tightens the hold she has around him and makes an approving mumble. Despite her nervousness, she feels safe again and content in his arms, so the drift of sleep takes over her easily.

She thinks, as her last bits of consciousness fade away, that this is the only way she wants to sleep from now on.

* * *

 **Author's Note: okay so I don't even know where this started going in the end but now I feel satisfied. I'm sorry if anyone wanted** s m u t **haha but it didn't make sense given their very ~virginal~ states. So, I figured awkward first sexual encounters would be good. I apologize also that it took so long to finish just _three_ parts. But I did just graduate college so at least my writing, hopefully, was more invigorated in the last part. Anyway, thanks for reading :)**

 **(also I've only lightly edited this so oof)**


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